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Tens of thousands of Norwegians lined up Sunday in front of cathedrals and churches across the country for memorial services held for the late King Harald V, who died at 89. Harald passed away Friday and his son immediately became the new King Haakon VIII. Since Harald's death, the royal family and the country have been in an official state of mourning. Norway's royal palace said Sunday evening the funeral will take place on Wednesday, September 9. Mourners expressed their grief over the weekend by laying flowers, writing cards and lighting candles in front of the royal palace in Oslo, where the coffin arrived late Friday from the hospital. "This Sunday is different. His Majesty King Harald is dead. A family has lost their spouse, father, grandfather, father-in-law," said Dean Pal Kristian Balstad as he opened the funeral service in Oslo Cathedral, Norway's public broadcaster NRK reported. The royal family attended a service at Asker Church, southwest of Oslo. Some Norwegians deci
Gianni Infantino, the increasingly embattled FIFA president, was everywhere in the conversations as European soccer leaders gathered this week in Monaco for the Champions League draw. UEFA, the European soccer confederation, is spearheading the backlash against Infantino over his failed World Cup sell-off plan that created a deep rift in the sport one month ago. Many of its member federations have withdrawn their support for the FIFA leader, who is up for re-election in March 2027, and some have called for his resignation. Infantino has not given any indication he plans to step down. Here's what to know about the growing pushback against the FIFA president. UEFA ramps up the pressure with legal action ============================= On Thursday, UEFA escalated the situation by revealing that it is preparing a possible criminal complaint against the FIFA president in Switzerland where the organization is based for alleged mismanagement. The European soccer confederation filed re
King Harald V of Norway, who went into exile in the United States as a child during the Nazi occupation of his homeland and refused a string of European noblewomen in order to marry his school sweetheart, has died. He was 89. The palace announced his death Friday morning. Harald was Europe's oldest monarch. The popular king modernised the royal house but refused to follow in the footsteps of other aging monarchs who have abdicated in recent times. His son now automatically becomes King Haakon VIII. Like other royal houses in Europe, the Norwegian monarchs serve a largely symbolic role, enjoying celebrity status while real power in the democracy of 5.5 million rests with an elected parliament. Harald was crowned king after his British-born father, King Olav V, died in January 1991, and reigned during an oil-and-gas-driven economic boom in his country. Harald was born in 1937 in Asker, near Oslo, becoming the first Norwegian prince to be born in the country since King Olav IV in 1370
European consumers can expect natural gas from an undersea deposit off Cyprus to help meet their energy needs as early as March 2028, the island nation's energy minister said. Michael Damianos said the East Mediterranean is fast becoming an alternative energy source for European nations as Russia's war in Ukraine and upheaval in the Middle East compel the continent to seek out new sources. Damianos said partners TotalEnergies of France and Italy's Eni made a final decision last month to proceed with developing the Cronos natural gas field off Cyprus' southern coast. The project will be the first time gas from east Mediterranean deposits is supplied to European markets. "It's important for Europe at this time because of the war in Ukraine, because of this situation in the Middle East, that Cyprus is going to be an alternative source of gas," Damianos told The Associated Press in an exclusive interview Friday. According to the Eni-TotalEnergies consortium timetable, work on a pipelin
An uncontained wildfire four times the size of Paris threatened to surge again in southwest France on Wednesday -- as three firefighters died in Greece and crews across southern Europe confronted a punishing mix of heat, drought and strong winds. The deaths on Crete brought a fatal new dimension to a wildfire emergency stretching from the Atlantic coast to the eastern Mediterranean. At the peak of the evacuations, a third of a million people were driven from homes and vacation sites in France and Spain. In France's Gironde region, the country's biggest blaze had not spread during a calm night, authorities said. But as temperatures approached 40 degrees Celsius Wednesday afternoon and winds strengthened, the reprieve threatened to be short-lived. The landscape was so combustible that investigators believe routine brush-clearing work near a high-voltage line may have sparked the inferno, even though the work appeared to comply with regulations. At the command centre in Lege, ...
Massive forest fires forced the evacuation of some 200,000 people in southwestern France and central Spain, with residents fleeing towns near Madrid and Bordeaux as the flames raged out of control. Firefighters and authorities in both European countries on Friday were caught off guard by the virulence of the fires, which were fuelled by high temperatures and the long-term effects of climate change. Firefighters in Spain admitted the fires were so fast and violent that they could not be tackled head on. Some people even fled by boat when flames swept through the touristic area on France's Atlantic coast. Some 141,000 fled homes in the Gironde and Landes departments in France, the French interior ministry said. In central Spain, 60,000 were forced from their homes, according to the Spanish interior ministry. Dozens of French firefighters were injured, authorities said, but no deaths were reported in either country despite the scenes of panic as townsfolk fled by car and police went d